Story delights others

Sunday

The Rev. M.C.B. Mason, the remarkable Terrebonne Parish native who rose from slavery to a national leadership position with the Methodist Episcopal Church apparently has living relatives in Cleveland.

Mason, the subject of a recent Photographs and Memories feature, had not received much public notice in the years since he served as Houma postmaster and principal of a Houma school for blacks in the late 1800s.

His name and photograph were discovered by chance in a series of Internet searches for published historical information about the Houma area.

Veranese Douglas, a retired public-school teacher who has long been interested in the history of local black education, reports that she was delighted to see additional information about Mason.

Chance: My own discovery of Mason had been sheer luck. He had first turned up as one of the witnesses testifying in an 1880s lawsuit filed against early Houma Courier publisher B.F. Bazet.

Suit documents identified Mason only as the postmaster, with no references to his race or background. That background came from old church records available by Internet search.

More luck: Now a blood relative has turned up, but not from local community members who might have kept up with descendants. Instead, a great-grand daughter, doing her own Internet search for Mason, stumbled on my Courier story. She promptly contacted me by e-mail: "My name is Carol Franklin. I read your article regarding the Rev. Dr. M. C. B. Mason with interest as I am his great granddaughter. I periodically ëGoogle’ his name to see if any additional sources have been posted on line and found your article.

"It has only been in recent years, as I have begun to seriously do family history research, that I have learned about my great grandfather’s astonishing life. I have gathered several notebooks of information on the life of M. C. B. and his family.

"My great grandparents lived in Cincinnati with their four children, Bessie, Winona, Mayme and my grandfather M. C. B. Mason Jr., beginning in the late 1890’s while my grandfather served the Freedman’s Aid and Southern Education Society. In the last few years I have been gathering information about my great grandfather, but have little information about his life and family in Houma before or after slavery. Your story added something that I did not know. Although I have done some research in New Orleans and at the state archives I am sure there must be other records that might shed light on his life in Louisiana."

Still looking: Aside from reading the old Courier lawsuit, I have not dug into Terrebonne public records that may bear on Mason. In time, we may all have a fuller picture of his activities here.

On Stage: Don’t miss "Horowitz and Mrs. Washington," the Le Petit Theatre production runs through next Sunday’s matinee. We saw and enjoyed the remarkable play opening night. For reservations, call 876-4278.

This production lost valuable preparation time when female lead Nichole Williams lost her father, former Terrebonne Parish School Board member Leroy Lyons. Progress has been remarkable since.